8. Haredi Lifestyle and Home
The Haredi lifestyle adheres to established norms, mitzvot, prayers, blessings, and customs that are strictly followed by the community members. Not all Haredi communities follow the same rules—some are stricter than others. The Geula neighborhood, where the Shtisel family lives, is not as strict as Meah She’arim for example.
The typical Haredi home has functional furniture and decor and Jewish ritual objects. The kitchen contains two sinks, one for meat (basar) and one for dairy (chalav) and two sets of plates, silverware, pots and pans etc. They are marked blue for dairy and red for meat.
Most Haredi homes will not have a television, Internet or secular books and newspapers. This is the reason Shulem opposes the use of television by his mother, and his son Zvi Arie ends up impairing the TV reception, thus preventing Malka from watching her favorite American soap opera.
The spoken language is Hebrew peppered with Yiddish words and phrases.